1. The Fellowship of the Ring: For the first film in his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, director Peter Jackson combines mythic power, personal storytelling and breathless Indiana Jones adventure to create a film that is both both intimate and epic. Damn, he’s good.

2. Ali: Michael Mann and Will Smith transcend biopic clichés to punch their way to the bruised heart of a hero. Extraordinary.

3. The Royal Tenenbaums: A hurting, healing comedy about the wounds inflicted by family; confirms Wes Anderson as a world-class talent.

4. Shrek: An ogre in love, and a new peak in animation.

5. Vanilla Sky: Cameron Crowe directs Tom Cruise in a psycho-sexual thriller that busts more than a few molds.

7. Black Hawk Down: The script’s speechifying can’t stop Ridley Scott. The director of “Gladiator” and “Hannibal” brings documentary realism to a war film that salutes the soldiers felled in a botched 1993 U.S. operation in Somalia.

8. A Beautiful Mind: Russell Crowe’s searing portrait of a schizophrenic never flinches, even when Ron Howard softens the blow.

9. A.I.: Steven Spielberg tries to finish something Stanley Kubrick started. The result is a sci-fi shambles that true film fans will heatedly discuss for ages.